Wheatfield activists to back Ceretto biosolids bill

WHEATFIELD – Two women who have been active in the fight to prevent biosolids from being used on Wheatfield farms will be in Albany Monday, Assemblyman John D. Ceretto announced.

Ceretto, R-Lewiston, said that Julie Otto and Monica Daigler will lend support to a bill Ceretto has introduced that would require food products produced from fertilizer made with sewage sludge to be labeled as such.

Daigler and Otto were among the citizens who lobbied the Wheatfield Town Board to stop Quasar Energy Group from making the byproduct of its anaerobic digestion process, which the company calls “equate,” available to farmers as fertilizer.

“Julie and Monica made their voices heard loud and clear – fertilizer made from human sewage sludge is not safe in our communities for the production of food. This is a public health issue, and I stand alongside them in the push to protect our families, our food supply and our communities,” said Ceretto. “We do not welcome the use of human sewage sludge as fertilizer in our community, and we have the right to know if our food was produced with it.”